My Day in Court

I had jury duty today for the first time in my life. I was thinking it would consist of a few hours sitting in a room and reading a book, then going home, but it turned out to be a little more interesting than that. After about 3 hours of sitting in a room with my fellow jury pool (where I did get to read quite a bit of my book, as well as watch a very educational video from the 1980s on the US judicial system), they marched us into the courtroom. There were 2 trials that needed juries today, both of them criminal cases (which surprised me, this was district court!) They picked names out of a box for each trial, then the judge and lawyers questioned the potential jurors, with the option to excuse any jurors without cause. I was picked for the second trial, which was a domestic violence case, but after questioning, the defense attorney excused me (interesting because the only question I was asked was what I did for a living). In any case, it made for an interesting day! As a token of their appreciation, I get $25 and reimbursed for my mileage (at 10 cents a mile, that adds up to $1.80!).